Nelson’s mayor joins cross-border tariff response group

Janice Morrison doesn’t want to be left out of the international tariff discussion.

As Nelson’s mayor she has joined the new group Border Mayors Alliance, whose aim is to make their voices heard at the national level, to build alliances with American mayors near the border, and to find ways to support local businesses in the face of potential upcoming tariffs.

The group was recently initiated by Mayor Drew Dilkins of Windsor, Ont., whose cross-border auto industry puts that city at the centre of the current tariff furor.

Morrison said that although the tariffs may not have that kind of direct influence on Nelson, there will be many indirect effects, and that is why she joined the group’s meetings.

Nelson has many infrastructure projects on the horizon – a new fire hall, a new ladder truck for the fire department, a new sewage treatment plant, the renovation of the Civic Centre – and costs would be driven up, she said.

“You just have to look at that last city budget and realize that there’s a lot of potentially expensive things coming down the road here in the next few years,” Morrison said. “The equipment and all the pieces that fit into that puzzle, we don’t manufacture those here in Canada.”

The cost of doing business in general will get more expensive, she said.

Many Nelson residents work across the border – perhaps not physically, but their work involves cross-border digital or financial activity, and she used the film industry as an example.

People also travel back and forth across the border in all seasons for many reasons other than work, she said, including tourism.

“You only have to drive down Baker Street to see all the American license plates we depend on. We’re a town that you have to drive to. And where is it easy to drive here from? Well, it’s easy to drive here from Spokane or Coeur d’Alene, or a number of our closest communities just across the border.

“I’m guessing that a lot of the American towns close to the border probably get a lot of Canadian shoppers, so this would affect small businesses in that way,”

Morrison said the local lumber industry will be hard hit if tariffs are added to already existing duties.

“We’ve got people that live here, that work for Kalesnikoff and for Mercer and other forest industries, whose jobs are potentially at risk with high tariffs.”

For all those reasons, Morrison said one of the goals of the BMA is to create cross-border allies at the local level. because the American government needs to hear from Americans about these relationships.

She said the group will also try to heal a rift that that has opened in recent months. Some Americans might think Canadians no longer welcome them, and if they visit us “they might get run out of town or whatever …  But of course we want our American friends to come in and visit us and enjoy our our town and what we have to offer.”

Morrison said the call to shop Canadian can be complicated. Sometimes the only place local businesses can source what they’re selling is from the U.S., and  she thinks we should not punish them for that, because keeping local businesses open is a priority. She asks Nelson residents to shop as Canadian as possible, and shop locally if possible.

Morrison said that Border Mayors Alliance, still in its early days, is still building its strategy. The group hopes to add a local component to the efforts of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities, which is engaging with American government and business leaders at a national level.

“I believe that we have to take Donald Trump at his word,” Morrison said. “I don’t think what he’s saying is a ruse. And I think that we need to have all hands on deck. We need to be doing everything to protect our sovereignty and to ensure our economic stability and growth.”